One hundred and eighty three jobs are to be shed at a Carmarthenshire meat packing factory which was almost destroyed in a fire earlier this month.

Dawn Pac said the redundancies at its Cross Hands plant, which account for more than half the workforce, are as a "direct consequence" of the blaze.

Firefighters fought to contain the blaze

The firm hopes that it will be able to resume limited production at the Cross Hands facility.

The job cuts will be a major blow to the local economy since the company is the second largest employer in the Ammanford area.

A spokesman for Dawn Pac said: "The company will be fully consulting with all affected employees about the possibility of alternative work within the group.

"Work is already under way rebuilding the site and it is planned that there will be a resumption of limited production work on site from 5 July.

"The company has transferred work to the other sites within the group to maintain continuity of supply to our customers."

The company which employed around 350 people at the Cross Hands site said 163 workers would be kept on to resume work in the undamaged part of the factory.

The company is a major employer in the area

Local councillor Clive Scourfield said the news was a devastating blow.

He said: "This has just confirmed our initial fears.

"It is particularly sad when you consider that a lot of the young people who worked there don't have any qualifications.

"They worked hard and earned good money."

Some of the staff will be offered new jobs in Dawn Pac's other factories in England and Scotland but the company said it was too early to say how many.

The move follows a fire at the factory on the 12 June which forced the evacuation of workers.

More than 70 firefighters fought the blaze at the plant alongside the A48 dual carriageway in Cross Hands.

Plumes of acrid black smoke rose several hundred feet in the air and explosions were heard as the single-storey building disintegrated.

Around 160 staff were at the factory when the fire broke out but no one was injured and an investigation was launched.

Factors

The company has another facility in Wales at Pontardawe near Swansea.

Irish-owned Dawn Pac is one of Europe's leading food processing companies and 346 people worked at the Cross Hands facility.

It processed and packaged 300 tons of meat every week for leading supermarkets across the UK.

Dawn Pac said it is considering "cost and time factors" before deciding whether to rebuild the part of the factory destroyed by the fire.